Florida Insurance Claim Lawyer Blog

Anyone who has ever filed a claim with their homeowners insurance company, or any insurance company, for that matter, knows it can be quite an ordeal.

As part of basically every insurance contract the party paying all the insurance premiums in exchange for insurance coverage must fully cooperate with the insurance company during the course of the insurance company's investigation once a claim is reported. If you don't then the insurance company can deny coverage. The basis being that even though you have paid all those insurance premiums, you are in breach of contract by failing to adhere to the "cooperation clause" of your insurance contract with the insurance company.

Cooperating often entails producing any and all paper work related to the claim and handing over photos and videos of damage. The insurance company could also ask for claimants to show up at an examination under oath (EUO). Failing to show up to the EUO will allow an insurance company to deny your claim regardless of the damages and despite having paid all your premiums on time.

At an EUO the homeowner is often asked to show up at the insurers lawyers' office and are asked questions under oath. Often times, our clients ask us, "Why are they making me do all of this? Do they think I'm making all of this up?" Unfortunately, insurance companies often think just that, and some times they even think that their policy holders are committing fraud.

However, it's also a possibility that the insurance company is simply fishing for a reason to deny a wholly legitimate claim. In fact, they may be the ones who are making things up.

Its recently come to light in a whistle blower lawsuit that Argus Fire & Casualty Company may be inventing reasons to deny or delay legitimate claims. And the insurance company's motive is no doubt greed and often driven exclusively by money. Put differently, and even though insurance companies gladly accept your premiums, and rake in millions and billions of dollars yearly, they often times don't want to pay the smallest of claims in an effort to ensure that they keep all that money they raked in for themselves.

Susan Varela, a former adjuster for Argus Fire & Casualty Company, claims she was fired after blowing the whistle on the insurance company's practice of denying claims that should have been covered. She's also alleging that Argus has been defrauding reinsurers by submitting their very own false claims. Talk about irony - an insurance company denying claims submitted by their insureds but yet turning around and submitting false claims to the insurance company that insures the insurance company, the re-insurers.

If you have ever had to deal with an insurance company, then none of this should be surprising. Insurance companies are often times about as trustworthy as automobile salesmen: You had better read the fine print lest the deal could come back to kick you in the junk.

Consider Your Options. Contact Us Today.

Before opening our law firm in 2006, our attorneys worked for some of the state's, and nation's, largest law firms, and worked representing the insurance companies for years. Our attorneys are now uniquely positioned to use that experience to assist individuals and businesses alike throughout Florida with their insurance claims. As a result, our attorneys are well versed in the impact insurance has on businesses, condominiums, and individuals alike. Our insurance litigation practice group is prepared to tackle your insurance claim.

Given our extensive experience litigating for, and against, insurance companies, our insurance litigation practice group is prepared to provide aggressive, efficient and effective representation on a broad spectrum of insurance claims in Florida for local, national, and international clients. We are prepared to advocate insurance claims at the pre-suit stage, trial, appellate and arbitration levels.

If you are facing a dispute over an insurance claim in Florida, contact Alvarez & Barbara, LLP for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights.

Call us today toll free at 1-866-518-2913 or at 305-263-7700.

As we have discussed previously on this blog, State Farm Florida Insurance, the state's largest private property insurer, wants to raise rates by a statewide average of 28 percent.

Although Florida has dodged a direct hit by hurricanes the past five years, State Farm claims that the increase is required to cover rising losses for claims unrelated to storms such as sinkholes. The increase comes after the company received approval in 2009 to raise average statewide rates by 28 percent and approval in November to raise them again by 6.6 percent.

State Farm had 678,849 residential property insurance policies in the state as of late last year, including 128,506 in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties and 175,084 in the Orlando area.

Some perspective based on the numbers....

Let's say that the average homeowner's insurance policy premium each month in Florida is $128/month.

State Farm has 678,849 residential property insurance policies.

That equals about $86,892,672.00 that State Farm collects each month in Florida from homeowners.

That is $1,042,712,064.00 that State Farm collects for the year.

Rather than pumping that money out of the country to overseas reinsurers to help them pay for opulent conferences in Monte Carlo, let's say State Farm opted invest that money. And with that investment let's say State Farm secures a modest average return of 10% per year (the stock market average return is 12% in the long run). This means that State Farm makes $104,271,206.40.

Keep in mind that insurance companies are required to keep reserves which they invest. These reserves are in the BILLIONS of dollars. However, forget about that now and focus solely on what State Farm receives in premiums from homeowners.

State Farm claims that they need to increase rates because of an increase in sinkhole hole claims over the past few years that are related to the recent rise in housing starts and the real estate meltdown. The recent rise in sinkhole claims is due in large part to the recent explosion in real estate development throughout Florida, and especially in South Florida. Over development has left the ground susceptible to sinkholes. Plus, while sinkholes occur in other U.S. states, Florida is more prone to sinkhole related problems because of underground limestone that dissolves under certain conditions, especially in areas that have been over developed, according to many leading geologists.

Nonetheless, let's do some math. State Farm's spokesman claims that sinkholes were responsible for State Farm spending $351 million over the last three years. That is $117 million for one year.

If State Farm gets a 10% return from the investment of the money it receives from homeowners insurance premiums, then they will only be short $12,728,794.00 for the year. Now, remember the BILLIONS of dollars that State Farm is required to hold in reserves and think about the money received on the investment of those reserves. $12 million is pocket change to State Farm, and they aren't really losing anything. Especially if you consider all the money that is shipped overseas by State Farm and others.

However, if State Farm increases rates by 28%, then the average premium in Florida goes from $128/month to $163.84/month. That's an extra $291,959,377.92 that State Farm will receive when they claim only "need" an extra $12,728,794.00.

It sure sounds, and looks, like State Farm is trying to take many hard working Floridians for granted.

Continue reading "State Farm's Request for a Rate Increase Does Not Add Up for Hard Working Floridians" »

An annual insurance company gathering at Monte Carlo is funded by Florida's extensive spending on insurance and reinsurance. This expensive gathering is paid by the two thirds of property insurance premiums that now leave Florida as unregulated payments to largely offshore companies that sell hurricane protection to insurers and that operate without rate control or consumer oversight.

These unregulated companies determine how much Floridians must pay for property insurance, and whether property insurance is available at all in Florida.

Florida's increased reliance on this unregulated market is eroding the industry's ability to withstand the inevitable disaster that a major hurricane will inflict on Florida.

Meanwhile, Florida's insurance companies are pleading poverty today despite the fact that Florida has not been hit by a major hurricane in 5 years. This costly dependence on reinsurers will only hurt Florida especially since the reinsurers only play by the rules established on Wall Street and fail to play any role in insuring the risk here in Florida.

Indeed, former Gov. Jeb Bush set aside his free market ideology to conclude that Florida could not "be at the mercy of people who hope for catastrophes to keep their rates high" purely for profit and to the detriment of all Floridians.

This problem is highlighted by the fact that from 2004 to 2009, Florida carriers' reinsurance bill nearly tripled, from $1.4 billion a year to more than $4 billion.

The portion of homeowners' premium devoted to reinsurance in that time increased from 37 percent to 64 percent, according to an analysis conducted of 70 Florida-only property insurers. The national average is only 19 percent.

That in turn drove up the cost of coverage for all of Florida's homeowners. Quarterly premium reports show the average Florida homeowner pays 72 percent more today than in 2003. The average premium has nearly doubled or more in nine coastal counties.

And despite all of this, the State of Florida is nonetheless poised to aid these insurance companies to the detriment of Floridians across our great state.

Continue reading "Stop the Madness - Overseas Companies are Profiting from Florida's Property Insurers But Yet Florida's Property Insurers are Still Seeking to Increase Rates that Hard Working Floridians Pay to Insure Their Property" »